Page 21 of The Summer We Started Over

“But she did it with you,” Barrett said accusingly.

Their father, usually so easygoing with his family, spoke up. “Stearns,it was wrong of you not to tell us. Dove was almost part of our family. Still, we’re all glad that Dove found help with you.”

—

Later, for days and weeks, Eddie and Barrett would talk and talk and try to understand why Dove hadn’t come to them when her family life exploded. Eddie and Barrett wouldn’t care that her father had skimmed money or that the Fletchers lost their house. They would have supported Dove in that crisis. But Dove had justabandonedthem for that druggie Curt Waterman. She hadn’t cared a thing about the sisters. Or maybe it was simply that Dove had been too deeply shocked by the huge changes in her life. She’d lost her place in the world. And Curt Waterman had reached out and grabbed her.

But Stearns had saved her.Stearns.

They should have known. It was great for their brother that he had Dove, but it hurt that Dove and Stearns had such an enormous secret. But, they consoled each other, they were all older now, all headed into their new lives and really, it was a good thing that Stearns and Dove loved each other. Dove would really be part of the family when they married.

A few days before Thanksgiving, their parents sat them down in the living room and with a brisk formality, their mother announced that she was divorcing their father. Sabrina had rented an apartment in Pittsfield. She and her friend Abel Kuiper, the owner of the jewelry store, were leaving for Amsterdam in the spring to learn more about diamonds.

“I have a good eye for gems,” Sabrina said. “If I hadn’t had children, I could have gone somewhere in the jewelry world.”

“Where would you have gone?” Barrett asked.

Sabrina rolled her eyes at her daughter’s innocence. “I mean, I could have beenimportant.”

Barrett and Eddie studied their father’s face closely, looking for a reaction.

William caught their looks. “It’s okay,” he told his daughters. “Sabrina and I have talked about this. We’ll be fine here. I’ll continue teaching—”

“And I’ll live the life I’ve always wanted,” Sabrina said.

The girls weren’t surprised that their mother was leaving them. Their mother had been leaving them for years. They didn’t feel as betrayed by her as they had felt with Dove.

—

That Christmas, their father went with them to choose the biggest, tallest Douglas fir they’d ever had. He hung the lights and they decorated the tree and bought presents. Eddie flew home from New York with her luggage full of gifts. The sisters read recipes and planned a feast and bought several bottles of a good champagne. They didn’t receive so much as a Christmas card from their mother, but they hadn’t really expected to get one.

Stearns and Dove drove over the treacherous Taconic Trail to Williamstown and spent the night before Christmas at the Grants’ house, Dove and Stearns sleeping in his old bedroom.

Christmas Day, Stearns and Dove gave three small boxes to William, Eddie, and Dove, insisting that they open the presents at the same time.

Eddie got a pair of booties. Barrett got a small white cap. William got a small silver spoon.

William said, “I don’t understand.”

Barrett screamed and jumped in the air.

Eddie burst into tears.

The baby would be born in April. No, they didn’t know the gender. Yes, Eddie and Barrett could be auntsandgodmothers.

—

Robert Joseph Grant was born early in Albany on a snowy March night. Stearns, exhausted and exuberant, called his father and sisters and sent videos of the tiny baby boy lying next to his mother. Dovebeamed a brilliant smile at the family, and invited them to come visit in a week or so, when she wasn’t so emotional.

“Keep sending us videos,” Eddie begged. “He changes so fast!”

But after work, Eddie called Barrett and they shared their fears. They’d heard that new mothers could get depressed, overwhelmed. Would that jeopardize Dove’s sobriety? No, they decided. Dove would be fine. Everything would be fine.

They made plans for Eddie to come home for Easter to see the baby.

—

The police came to the pretty Williamstown house on a cold April night. Barrett was in bed, reading. Her father was in his study, reading. Eddie was in New York.

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